FORMER England star Paul Gascoigne was in intensive care in a US hospital last night after collapsing in a rehabilitation clinic.

His alcohol withdrawal symptoms were so severe the former Newcastle and Tottenham player suffered a serious fit.

Friends said he had not had a heart attack, as some had feared. However, he was in the early stages of a long and painful recovery, they stressed.

The 45-year-old was flown to the £900-a-day Cottonwood de Tucson rehab clinic Arizona last Monday after a video emerged of him painfully trying to cope with severe shakes and slurring words at a speaking engagement days earlier.

His treatment and flight are being paid for by friends and admirers including Radio 2’s Chris Evans, former England cricketer Ronnie Irani and Gary Lineker.

Gascoigne was placed on a strict detoxification programme but because of the amount he had been drinking, his body had a severe reaction.

Such was the scale of his problems, friends had been told to expect his condition to worsen before he improved. One said last night: “We had a call from the hospital on Friday night saying he had been rushed to hospital. He hasn’t had a heart attack but he is not good. As soon as the detox started, his withdrawal symptoms were very severe. He is out of danger but still in intensive care.

It seems the treatment and rehab will have to be a lot more extensive than we first thought.

“It seems the treatment and rehab will have to be a lot more extensive than we first thought.”

Gascoigne will stay in intensive care until he is fit to return to the Cottonwood’s 34-acre base in the foothills of Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, where he is expected to stay for at least six weeks.

His friend added: “We think this relapse is going to mean a longer time at the centre and then perhaps a halfway house period in the US. Messages have gone out to key members of the England team who have said they want to help.”